Network service operators often compete and provide network services in certain markets which fit with their overall strategy and economic goals. However, in order to provide an ubiquitous and seamless service to customers in areas different than what the service operators directly cover, such operators typically forge partnerships with other (potentially competing) operators who cover those other areas. Such relationships between operators are known as roaming relationships. It is not uncommon for an operator to maintain several hundred of individual roaming relationships.
When a user of an operator's network (i.e. home network) is roaming on another network (i.e. roaming network), the user essentially uses the capacity and the services of the roaming network. As a result, the roaming network may send an invoice to the home network regarding the user's roaming use. For example, such invoice may include all delivered calls, data transfers, short messages, and/or other services used by the user while roaming.
Frequently, users who are roaming on a roaming network call their home network customer care desk for problems they may experience while roaming. Such problems may be call drops, data service disruptions, and/or inability to execute an application, for example. In such case, the home network may not be responsible for the low quality of service dale roaming network. However, the home network may still have to pay, not only the roaming network for the roaming usage of the user, but also for the customer care calls that the home network handled, even though the problems may have originated with the roaming network.
There is thus a need for addressing these and/or other issues associated with the prior art.